Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

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The Brazilian Minister of Culture - a graying but robust man in his 60s - danced frenetically, goofily with a 20-something longhaired, bearded American hippie. Both flailed their legs and arms, both flashed huge grins and sparkly eyes, exuding pure joy, and then walked away, arms around each other into the night Unusual? Maybe. But not entirely, given the setting. On stage at the Hollywood Bowl in front of a delighted crowd of more than 12,000 people, most of them dancing along. This sort of tableau is exactly the kind of thing the people at the Bowl have tried to make routine for a decade now since founding the World Festival, an annual series put on in association with noted non-commercial radio station KCRW-FM in Santa Monica. The dancing fools this night were the evening's headliners Brazilian great Gilberto Gil -- co-founder with Caetano Veloso and others of the '60s tropicalista movement, jailed and exiled as a dissident and now for the last five years his government's culture czar -- and Devendra Banhart -- the young prince of what has been described variously as Freak Folk and New Weird (or Wyrd) America, though truth be told he reaches well beyond those labels "The idea is that music is global," says Laura Connelly, director of presentations for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and the creator of this series, who before the show said that her wish was that the two would join together on stage. "Most musicians are worldly in their outlook. We wanted to find ways to expose these connections and also bring artists together, not necessarily that there is a direct correlation, not that so and-so is definitely influenced by X. But we just start with this huge wish list and say, 'Wouldn't it be great to combine...." So Banhart coming to help Gil and his band on the night's closing number, 'Nos Barracos da Cidade,' was a serious treat. But frankly, despite the surface strangeness, the connection this night was pretty direct. Banhart spent part of his childhood in Venezuela, where is mother is from, and has often showed inspiration from South American music, particularly on several tracks of his most recent album, 2007's 'Smoky Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. And it wasn't the only connection he was part of this night. The other side of his musical spectrum was also represented in the opening act, with Mike Heron -- co-founder of Scotland's '60s psychedelic folkies the Incredible String Band, and therefore a founder of the whole psychedelic folk movement that Banhart references liberally in his music -- guested with the opening act, San Diego band the Autumn Leaf (which at the moment included Heron's daughter Georgia in its shifting lineup). Banhart seemed to take seriously his role as fulcrum between two iconic artists separated by geography and culture, but clearly shown here, not by spint. His set started with a few very playful numbers (the opening 'Little Yellow Spider in particular) that played very well off of Heron's performance of ISB favorites 'Air,' a prayerful Worlds They Rise and Fall' and fittingly continuity-themed 'The Circle Is Unbroken.' From there Banhart edged toward Gil's pan-Latinisms with 'Samba Vexillographical and his churning closer, Carmensita' Gil for his part took those elements and explored even further Threading through his set was a mini history lesson on Brazilian music (remember, he is the Minister of Culture), from pre-contact dances to African and European infusions to bossa nova and forró to his own contributions of psychedelic and progressive Tropicalismo sounds. Even the over-heard standard 'The Girl From Ipanemal in the original Portuguese as 'Garota de Ipanema') took a fresh turn, and his two Bob Marley tributes ('Three Little Birds' as Three Little Siros' and the herb ode 'Kaya") were given Gil-ian twists, notably his sudden and seemingly spontaneous vocal yelps punctuating BLACK VOICES ASYLUM Sign In / Register AOL shopping Online Shopping Made Easy Make the Most Out of the Summer Season with Great Products From AOL Shopping Shop by Department RSS FEED CONTACT US SEND NEWS TIPS Free Spinner Toolbar Keep up with the latest Spinner news free MP3s, live performances and more. Download the Toolbar 7 DAYS Ted Nugent's Latest Diatribe. Obesity (385) Potent Quotables Sharon Slams Socialite (241) Top 20 Worst Songs Ever No 1 (144) Top 20 Worst Songs Ever No. 17 (77) Top 20 Worst Songs Ever. No 20 (56)